Pushing Ourselves in 2019

by Elizabeth S. Craig,  @elizabethscraig

I realized at some point last year that I wanted to write a new series.  For one thing, it’s nice to have an additional revenue stream, especially if a series may appeal to a different pool of readers.  For another, I wanted to make sure that I was still growing.  I wanted to try something different to keep myself sharp.

Writing a new series or a new genre (or both) is one way to creatively stretch.  But there are other ways of pushing ourselves.  The beginning of the year is a good time to assess where you stand in your writing business. And it is a business, which is sometimes tough for writers to wrap their heads around.

My income has increased in direct relation to the number of books I’ve published.  It’s also increased whenever I’ve added new streams of revenue by diversifying into new formats (print, digital, audio),  and distributors and retailers (using aggregators like Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, Smashwords, Ingram, and StreetLib to reach retailers all over the world).

As with anything, I think it’s important to break down any of these tasks into many smaller tasks.  Don’t let it be overwhelming if it’s something you want to tackle in 2019.

To get you started, here are some questions to ask yourself and then places to start: 

Have you not published your book at all yet?  Are you new to self-publishing?  Try these nice overviews from both industry expert Jane Friedman and from writer James P. Sumner (video) on the ALLi blog.

Is your book in print?  To have your book on KDP Print, Amazon’s print publishing, you’ll need to have a full cover (with spine and back cover) as a PDF. Your ebook cover designer should be able to handle that for you without much additional cost.  You’ll also need your book file to be available as a PDF.  A free service like KDP,  Reedsy or Draft2Digital can help you create your own file, or you can hire a formatter.  More help to get you started with your Amazon print project is here.

Is your book available as an ebook?  Here you’ll need an ebook cover from your designer.  You’ll also need your book formatted for epub or kindle.  Again, the free services above can help you if you want to format it yourself.  From there, you simply upload to KDP and other retailers.  (I think it’s important to go wide, especially if you are planning on writing more than one book, so I won’t recommend KDP Select here.)

Is your book available at Nook, Apple, Kobo and smaller worldwide retailers?  If you already have an ebook cover and files, this is one of the easiest ways to go wide on this list. You can either elect to directly upload to these retailers (a process very similar to when you uploaded to Amazon), or you can use a distributor or aggregator to do so (they take a small percentage of your royalties).  Smashwords, Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, and StreetLib are all good choices.  You can even use all of them…just make sure that you’re not duplicating services (don’t have both Draft2Digital and Smashwords distribute to Apple, for example).

Is your ebook available for purchase by libraries?  This is another no-brainer if you already have an ebook file and cover.  You can’t upload directly to OverDrive, which supplies libraries.  But you can go through a distributor (any of the ones listed above) to get your books there.

Is your book available in audio?  Audio has become very popular for readers.   ACX is the main platform that writers use to get their books produced as audio books. You can pay a narrator upfront, consider a royalty-sharing option with your narrator, or you can even narrate yourself.  ACX distributes to Audible and iTunes.  More information can be found here.   Other options include Findaway Voices (info here) and TekTime.

Is your printed book available for purchase at libraries and bookstores?  This means going through IngramSpark.  You’ll need your own ISBN (I recommend those anyway, if you intend on going wide and publishing a good number of books) and a PDF of your full print-version cover and PDF of your book’s text. There are set-up fees for print…$49 a title…but I don’t think I’ve ever paid it because they frequently run free set-up promotions (make sure you receive their emails).  The current promo (until March 31) is NANO17.   IngramSpark isn’t quite as intuitive as KDP Print, but I believe it’s easier than given credit for.  Here’s an article by Debbie Young on why it’s a good idea to use both Amazon’s KDP Print and IngramSpark together. 

Is your book available for translation?  As with audio, you can pay a translator upfront (although the costs may be prohibitive). Or you can post your book as available for translation on a site like Babelcube or Tektime and use a royalty sharing agreement.  My thoughts on translation options in my posts here and here.

There are other ways to diversify and create multiple income streams for your writing business.  You can be a public speaker, teach an online class, pursue affiliate income, or look for sponsors on Patreon.

What types of creative and business goals do you have for 2019?

Photo on Foter.com